The breeze was too slight,
The hills were too steep,
Now I’m going to sleep.’
Her husband blinked and she thought he muttered something about the heat getting to her.
‘And you. Yes, you, girl.’ Galla limped over. ‘What’s the idea of packing so much stuff? Can’t you see that wretched animal’s wilting?’
‘You said-’
‘You should never have allowed it out in this heat. Give that poor creature water at once.’
Now, as the heat haze danced and glimmered for the first time over the seven distant hills that were Rome, Claudia decided it was difficult to see why people took to this walking lark-after all, it wasn’t as though there was anything to see. Still, never let it be said of Claudia Seferius she wasn’t willing to try out new experiences.
Gaius had taken the two-wheeled car, which made better time, but Claudia was happy just to be home. The comforting street cacophony, her own room, her own bed, even her own maid. Galla’s irritating lisp was grinding her nerves to pulp, it would be a relief to return to the rhythm of Melissa’s unassuming ministrations. Oh yes, it had been an uphill struggle at the villa, especially with Larentia, although luckily the old cow hadn’t been anywhere near as sure of herself as she’d made out. No accusations were made publicly and the constant sniping at her son’s wife had effectively served to alienate Larentia from Gaius, although she hadn’t noticed until it was too late.
‘I’ll see you get your come-uppance, you conniving bitch.’ She’d finally bearded her daughter-in-law in the bath house the day before she was due to leave.
Claudia stretched. ‘Maybe you will, maybe you won’t,’ she said, rubbing oil into her thighs. ‘But if you have any sense, you’ll take a word of advice from me.’
‘Never!’ The old woman spat the word out as though it were a glowing ember burning through her tongue.
Claudia smiled slowly, her eyes glistening. ‘Take it or leave it, Larentia, but if I were you I’d certainly be careful what I ate from now on.’
‘Why you…you…’
Revelling in both physical and psychological superiority, Claudia stood up and proceeded to oil her breasts. ‘Hedonistic whore?’ she asked sweetly.
‘…grasping bitch,’ snapped Larentia. ‘But you’ll pay. And when retribution comes I’ll be there, in the front row, you just wait and see. You won’t get a quadran of Gaius’s money.’ Her mouth fell open as the colour drained from her face. ‘Merciful Juno, that’s your game! You’re poisoning my son!’
Claudia shot her an amused glance. ‘Ah! So you’ve noticed the haunted eyes, the lacklustre expression, the dark circles? I wondered how long it would take you.’ The horror on Larentia’s face aged her ten years. She looked like a walking skeleton.
‘I must warn him,’ she said breathlessly. ‘I’m going straight…straight…’ She was panting and wheezing, gulping for air. ‘I…I…’
She began to sway and clutch her throat. Claudia caught her before she hit the tiles. Dammit, the old bat didn’t even have the decency to die! Claudia sighed, threw a towel over herself and called for assistance, ensuring Larentia’s seizure was passed off as a fainting fit and that no talk of collapse came to Gaius’s ears.
As the wagon rolled downhill, she threw a fig in the air and caught it in her fist. If nothing else, this wretched sojourn has cleared my mind and brought matters into perspective. Lucan. Otho. Junius. Larentia. Anonymous letters. Murders. Accusations. Gaius. Orbilio… Oh yes, she was feeling confident again now. Gaius had finally lost patience and Flavia’s wedding to Scaevola was firmly fixed for the beginning of September, which was a niggling weight off Claudia’s mind. Larentia’s seizure would put the old fossil out of action for as long as it took for counter-measures to be set in motion. She’d had an idea about Lucan, and Otho could be dealt with any old time. Junius would be a loss, because, without him, who could she trust to place bets discreetly? And as for that other nasty business, whoever the bastard was his days were well and truly numbered, Claudia reckoned she’d have him nailed within a week, two at the outside.
‘Life is wonderful, don’t you think so, Galla?’
Sulky cow.
At long last the shimmering haze became solid walls, which in turn became roofs and streets and columns and arches. The lifeless road turned into a clamour of men and women, children and oxen, beggars and pedlars. There were shopkeepers shouting, dogs snapping, slaves yapping, porters rumbling amphorae over the cobbles. The smell of hard-earned sweat mingled with charcoal, animal ordure and dusky, musky scents. Graffiti on the walls, sacred fires outside the temples, deep shadows cast by the mighty aqueducts which straddled all Rome. You could practically smell the steam from the baths as the cart joggled past, hear the babble of gossip echo through the vaulted chambers.
Claudia thought of Gaius, of the weight that had fallen away, of the breathing problems that had been plaguing him of late. Almost overnight he’d become an old man. She was slumped into her cushions, chewing her thumbnail and calculating how long before Gaius Seferius left a grieving widow, when the wagon finally drew to a halt outside the house. There was a song on her lips as she lifted the flap of Drusilla’s cage.
‘Home, poppet. Home with a vengeance.’
Gaius’s banquet had been rearranged for this coming Thursday, with Melissa sorting out all the tedious chores. Acrobats, dancers, you name it, she’ll have them lined up, and Verres would have had his dainties worked out ages ago. The Wine Festival starts on Saturday, but let me see, today’s only Tuesday. What’s on tomorrow? Isn’t there a hearing in the Senate House she could toddle along to?
Leonides, the household steward, was hovering in the atrium beside the bust of Gaius’s father.
‘I wonder if I might-’
‘Not now.’
‘It’s rather important, madam.’
Claudia twisted her lip. ‘Leonides, if you wish to keep your ears attached to your neck-and I fully understand that you might not, because they don’t seem to serve you particularly well-but should you want to keep them, I suggest you listen more closely. When I said not now, I meant not now.’
The lanky Macedonian coloured, nodded and retreated hurriedly. Her eyes scanning unsuccessfully for Melissa, Claudia dismissed Galla with a wave and marched towards the garden. She could catch up on the banquet details later. Right now a glass of wine among the roses and lilies was just what the doctor ordered.
‘Gaius? I thought you’d be working.’
‘I’m entertaining a house guest.’
Not another of those boring colleagues of yours, I can’t stand it.
‘Splendid. Have I met him?’
‘Indeed you have…cousin.’ Orbilio’s curly mop peered round a laurel shrub. His face had a schoolboy grin plastered all over it.
‘Gaius…!’
‘Calm down, my sweet, let me-’
‘Calm down?’ She grabbed hold of her husband’s arm, jerked him to his feet and dragged him aside. ‘Gaius, that monster tried to rape me!’
Fat fingers patted her shoulder. ‘He’s explained that.’ She shot a glance in Orbilio’s direction. The bastard was watching a butterfly flitting round the lavender as though this was no concern of his.
‘Said he had no idea re-enacting those childhood wrestling matches might be misconstrued, so make up with your cousin, Claudia. Tell him you’re sorry.’
I am not sorry, Gaius. I am incandescent. In-can-bloody-descent!
‘Marcus! What can I say?’ There was more honey on her tongue than in those twenty beehives up at the villa. ‘What a silly, silly goose you must think me!’
Orbilio covered his mouth with the back of his hand to stifle what might have been a cough.
‘Oh, boys will be boys.’
‘Ha, ha. Absolutely.’ Her mouth was beginning to ache. ‘And why did you say you were here? I think I missed that.’
‘His house burned down.’ Gaius brushed specks of dandruff from his shoulder.
Claudia turned to Orbilio. ‘Tragic, Cousin Markie. Absolutely tragic!’